A ROTTING pile of household and garden waste has been dumped at the end of a residential street in Southampton.

A destroyed kitchen worktop, fence panels and mouldy tarpaulin were among the heap of rubbish left by fly-tippers near a row of garages in Bealing Close.

The body of a large dead rat was also found just feet away from the rubbish.

It comes just 24 hours after a huge pile of waste was found dumped in a Hampshire village.

The contents of a garage were discovered in Biddenfield Lane, Shedfield. It included bin bags, tyres, plastic storers and household tools.

Owners of the garages in Bealing Close have branded the fly-tipping as “disgusting” and “upsetting”.

Patricia Fiztsimmons, 77, who has lived in the street for more than 50 years, said: “I am devastated about it. The council will say it’s private land so it is not going to do anything about it.

“I think people discovered they could dump stuff down there so have kept coming back.

“The fly-tipping is only getting worse – it’s disgusting.”

Fellow resident Colin Challis, 77, said: “I’m worried that fly-tippers will dump outside of my garage.

“I use my garage a lot so I would be horribly annoyed if they did.

“It would hit me in the pocket as I would have to pay for someone to take it away.”

The dumped rubbish has been blasted as “disgrace” by city councillor Bob Painton, who said Swaythling appears to be “targeted” by fly-tippers.

He called on environmental chiefs to be given new powers to seize and crush vehicles used for fly-tipping and the offenders slapped with £1,000 fines.

Cllr Painton added: “I feel very upset about all the hours myself and others have put in to keep our green space clean and

tidy, only for these indiscriminate people to spoil it all.

“I think it is now high time that Southampton City Council and the police took a much more proactive line in catching these people and imposing fines that fit the purpose.

“If we all took a proactive approach against fly-tipping and litter dropping, the city could soon to start looking clean and tidy instead of its current tired state.”

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